The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is required to exclude non-serious offenses committed by juveniles and adults from their database. This federal regulation and court order dates back to 1976. However, it appears that the FBI has not been as diligent as it is supposed to be in identifying and erasing such non-serious crimes that are included within their colossal database that is commonly used to conduct background checks. Non-serious offenses include: disturbing the peace, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, and curfew violations.
Despite facing heated opposition from public interest legal advocate and private groups, the FBI database still contains a great amount of non-serious criminal records within their directories. Even more upsetting is the fact that no one, including the FBI and federal government, knows the exact number of non-serious offenses that are recorded in the database.
A Little Background on FBI Database
The FBI database is comprised of information about individual’s arrest records that the FBI receives from the states. The FBI itself is unable under by law to include non-serious crimes in its database. However, states do not have such requirement.
As such, when records are sent from the states to the FBI, they more often than not include as well. The FBI master criminal database includes more than 80 million people (which roughly equals to about one out of every three American adults). This makes it nearly impossible for the Bureau to go through each record to determine which individual committed a serious crime and which one committed a non-serious crime.
What Is the Root of the Problem?
Some experts believe that the major reason for the large number of non-serious crime still remaining in the FBI database is that the difference in reporting requirements between the states and the federal government. It should be noted that the FBI only collects arrest records when fingerprints are taken. As such, if a state does not fingerprint suspects who are arrested for non-serious crimes, that information will not be included in the federal government database. While this may be good new for some offenders of non-serious crimes, it does not bring solace to others.
Nevertheless, the fact that the FBI has not done much to identify and erase non-serious crimes from its database remains a major problem for individuals who face non-serious crimes. Having a criminal record can significantly impact all aspects of an individual’s life and all efforts should be made to prevent a conviction in the first place. This makes it all the more important to hire an experienced and aggressive attorney.
Call a Disorderly Conduct Defense Attorney in New Jersey
If you or someone you know has been unfairly and falsely charged with a disorderly conduct offense in New Jersey, an experienced attorney can help. For more information or to schedule a free consultation with New Jersey disorderly conduct attorney Dan T. Matrafajlo, please call the Beninato & Matrafajlo law firm at (908) 248-4404.
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